Hampton
Court Palace
was once the home of the kings and queens of England. Just a few
examples would be Charles the I, Elizabeth the I and, the most famous,
Henry the VIII. (Of course one must include his six wives as
well.)
The Palace has had many owners, and the owners have found themselves
with
many unusual tenants sharing the Palace with them. As it turns
out
they were sharing their home with the specters of the past. At
one
point in time even King Henry, himself, had reported seeing ghosts
walking
the halls of his home. (No doubt due to large amount of people
that
he had put to death.

Thomas
Wolsey, (later
titled Cardinal Wolsey), built the Palace itself, as a summer home
during
the reign of Henry the VIII. The mansion did not become a palace
until after Henry VII took over ownership and began to add onto the
original
building. The mansion became Henry’s home when Wolsey mistakenly
told Henry, that anything he owned belonged to Henry. Apparently
Thomas Wolsey was not expecting Henry to take him up on his sentiment,
but the king assumed that Wolsey had made a gift of Hampton House.

The actual
building
of Hampton Court Palace began in 1514, and was almost completed in
1925.
The King eventually promoted Sir Thomas Wolsey to the station of
Cardinal.
For a while all was fine between the two men. Unfortunately for
Wolsey,
he was unable to obtain a legal divorce for Henry from his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon, because of this he was charged with treason and
stripped
of all his possessions. Thomas Wolsey died penniless in 1530,
before
Henry could take the once prominent Cardinal Wolsey to trial and
execute
him.

Many Kings
and Queens
have inhabited Hampton Court Palace, starting with Henry the VIII,
Edward
the VI, Elizabeth I and continuing on through to George III. Just
as the Kings and Queens filled this palace so do it’s ghosts. The
specters of the past reliving their history.

Many of the
ghosts
seen at Hampton Court are thought to be those of Henry, his wives and
others
connected to him. One explanation of the haunting is related to
the
fact that Henry focused all of his love, hate, rage and fears on the
great
halls of the palace and the people surrounding it.

As mentioned
in the
first paragraph, Henry experienced some haunting of his own. He
reported
seeing Herne the Hunter, of local legend, however, some historians
believe
that he spoke of this specter to convince himself and others that his
conniving
actions were understood by those of the other world and that Herne
should
be seen as the protector of the king. Henry was also haunted by a
few of the clergy that he had killed during his violent reformation of
the church. He also claimed to be the first person to see the
beheaded
ghost of his second wife, Anne Bolelyn.

King
Henry,
however, is not the only person to be haunted in the palace.
Other
residents and visitors have reported seeing shades and haunts while in
the palace. The most persistent sightings are those of Anne
Bolelyn
and Jane Seymour.

In
descriptions of
sightings related to Anne Bolelyn one finds accounts of her both with
and
without her head. There have even been accounts of sightings
where
Anne is carrying her own head. Those who have seen Anne Boleyn in
the palace describe her as walking slowly, looking bitter, but at the
same
time mortified by her unfair fate. Also many of the people who
have
seen her apparition describe feeling her age-old anger, grief, dread
and
fear of dying and being forgotten.

The
other most
popular sighting at the palace is that of Lady Jane Seymour, and her
story
is quite sad. She was the third wife of Henry the VIII.
They
were betrothed within 24 hours of the beheading of Queen Anne.
Unlike
previous queens she did not have a formal coronation. In 1537
Jane
became pregnant with her first and only child by the king. In
early
October the only son the Henry would ever have was born.
Unfortunately
his mother, Jane Seymour, died on October 24th, from complications of
his
birth. Her ghost has been seen roam in the Clock Court and in the
Silver Stick Gallery wearing a white robe and carrying a lit candle,
perhaps
she is searching for her son. An interesting note to this story
is
that Jane Seymour was the only Queen to be buried with Henry in his
burial
vault.

Another of
Henry’s
wives is also said to be seen in the palace. This would the
King’s
fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Catherine is not really believed to
be a ghost, but rather more of a psychic impression. A psychic
impression
is a reenactment of a particularly traumatic event, described as an
echo
in time. In Catherine’s case this would be her reaction to
hearing
the news of her sentence of death by beheading, for committing acts of
high treason against the king. (In other words having affairs
with
younger men and getting caught.) Catherine has been reported seen
running through the gallery and corridors, apparently she is still
pleading
and screaming for her life to be spared.

Kings,
Queens and
Clergy are not the only ones to be seen walking the palace halls, there
are others who visit those remaining in the corporeal world.
There
is the story of the Grey Lady; this woman is believed to be Sybil Penn,
the nurse of Henry’s children, died of Small Pox in 1632. She has
been seen wandering the halls of this palace, and often felt or seen
watching
over the children residing there. She has been described by those
who have witnessed her countenance as a smiling personage, and
completely
inoffensive. Apparently her spirit was quiet until the removal of
her remains from St Mary’s Church, which had been badly damaged during
a storm in 1892. Suddenly her voice was heard in the hallways and
once again those residing in the palace could hear the whirring of her
spinning wheel. When Mrs. Penn first began haunting the palace,
the
owners where dumbfounded by the source of the sound of the spinning
wheel.
Upon further investigation a secret room was found sealed off behind
one
of the corridor walls, and in this room they found what is believed to
be Mrs. Penn’s spinning wheel. One thing that I found odd about
this
story was that in all the accounts that I have read no one mentions why
the room was sealed off, nor did anyone question why the spinning wheel
was there, nor was there any mention of any other objects occupying the
room.

Other
specters inhabiting
the palace that deserve honorable mention are two soldiers who had
haunted
the main courtyard. At some point of the English Civil War, a small
skirmish
was fought at the castle and unfortunately a good amount of the troops
were injured or killed. The two soldiers in the courtyard are
believed
to have been part of that skirmish. During some of the repairs
and
renovations on the castle two skeletons were found in the
courtyard.
The remains of the unknown men were removed from the courtyard and
given
a proper burial. There have been no further reports of the
soldiers
in the courtyard since then. Hopefully these two men have finally
found their peace.

Another
ghost reported
in the palace is that of a young boy dressed in 17th century
garb.
The brother of the owner of the castle saw him at that time, and a
friend.
The child appeared before the men in broad daylight during a garden
party.
He pushed past the gentlemen standing on the stairs, who quickly
followed
him only to find the child nowhere in sight by the time they had
reached
the top of the stairs. The gentlemen described the child’s
behavior
as that of a person who lived in the palace and was used to being in
charge.

I also found
a brief
mention of a tourist who had seen a young woman in what the tourist had
described as, old fashioned dress, walking along with the crowds
touring
the palace. The tourist did not think much of this young woman
until
she noticed her walk through a young soldier on crutches. The
young
woman apparently passed through the young man without his even
noticing.
Upon reporting what she had seen to the constable stationed on the
grounds,
she was told that many other tourists had reported this specter over
the
years.